Members of the Russellville Advertising and Promotion (A&P) Commission voted at its October meeting to raise Director Christie Graham's salary from $28,325 to $36,024 as part of renewing her employment contract.

Commission member Dr. Theresa Herrick said in an interview the commission viewed the $7,699, or 27 percent, salary increase as justified because Graham's workload has increased and is expected to increase in the future.

"The commission recognized [Graham] has more things to do and more [tax] collections to make," Herrick said. "She will have increased responsibilities once the convention center is built and will have to start making contacts."

Herrick also noted the commission did not have the money to pay Graham more until the City Council approved raising the hotel tax from 1.5 percent to 3 percent in January. The hotel tax is the commission's only source of income, according to a January article by Brooke Chambers.

At the time, Graham said the commission turned down "numerous events" because the commission did not have the funds to bring events to the city, according to the article.

Herrick said Graham's new salary is comparable to that of a grade 15 employee of the city, based on Graham's responsibilities and job duties. Grade 15 city employees include police lieutenants, fire department battalion chiefs and the fire marshal, according to information provided by Russellville Human Resources Director Christi Williams.

The salary increase is the first Graham has received since she was hired in April 2006, Herrick said.

The Advertising and Promotion Commission is independent of the city and not under its direct administrative and financial control. However, two aldermen -Freddie Harris and Faye Abernathy - serve on the commission, and City Attorney Trey Smith said the council can determine the hotel tax rate, approve and reject the commission's nominees for the commission or dissolve the commission altogether if the council sees fit to do so.

While according to the commission's October meeting minutes the contract was approved by all commissioners present, one commissioner expressed reservations recently when contacted by The Courier.

"The salary is probably OK," Harris said. "But the jump from $28,000 to $36,000" gave her pause.

"This is the taxpayers' money," she said.

What she took the greatest issue with, she said, was Graham's request for six weeks paid maternity leave - beyond any accrued vacation or sick time - as part of her contract.

"I was shocked," Harris said. "I felt like the salary was more than enough. I just had a problem with it."

Graham said the commission voted at the November meeting not to include the six weeks of maternity leave in her contract.

Graham also provided The Courier with a spreadsheet listing the salaries of advertising and promotion commission directors around the state, along with the respective commission's budgets, number of employees supervised and the directors' years of experience.

With the salary increase, Graham is the lowest-paid director on the list. The next-lowest paid is the A&P director in Harrison with a salary of $65,000.

However, according to the spreadsheet, Russellville's A&P budget is also the lowest at $258,000. Harrison's A&P budget is $430,000. The Harrison A&P director also supervises two employees, according to the spreadsheet. Graham is the only employee of Russellville's A&P commission.

Graham's salary represents 14 percent of the A&P's total budget, the second-highest ratio on the list. In contrast, Little Rock's A&P director's salary ($134,000) represents one of its total budget of $14 million. The Little Rock commission also supervises 104 employees and five facilities, according to the spreadsheet.